


Control and Commitment

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BDSM, Collars, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 11:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18777538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: Luckily for Laurent, Damen speaks his language perfectly.





	Control and Commitment

**Author's Note:**

> Fills my 'Collaring' Kink Bingo square. Please be warned that it contains a very brief and fairly vague reference to past CSA.

For someone who dished out orders and wielded his barbed tongue with such ease and seeming relish, Laurent tended to be remarkably closed-mouthed when it came to speaking out about more positive things. He was careful never to talk openly about how well things had been going lately in his life in general, let alone between the two of them specifically, as if he was afraid that putting a voice to it would be challenging the universe to prove him wrong. He was far more likely to verbally express his anger or frustration than his happiness. And his praise, on the rare occasion that it came at all, was often stilted and awkward. He was obviously unpractised in these things, as he'd been in many others prior to meeting Damen. 

Damen tried not to allow any of that to bother him. It wasn't like he wasn't painfully aware of the reasons for it, so he understood. And Laurent managed to communicate all of those things to Damen through his actions anyway. Why would Damen need Laurent to tell him that he'd missed Damen while he'd been away on a business trip when it was already clear enough from how Laurent clung to Damen's neck as soon as they reunited? And what need was there for Laurent to tell Damen how well Damen had pleased him by enduring the blows of Laurent's riding crop against his thighs when the way Laurent's fingers trailed gently through Damen's sweat-dampened curls as Damen's mind drifted in a haze afterwards spoke volumes?

Sometimes Laurent's non-verbal messages were subtle, and so Damen didn't realise what Laurent was trying to tell him until much later when he'd had time to really think about it. But then sometimes it was as even more plain than if Laurent had just said something.

Like today, when Laurent had ordered Damen to crawl into the bedroom on his hands and knees, only for Damen to immediately encounter a carefully-coiled collar placed strategically on the floor along his path between the doorway and the foot of the bed. 

It was a band of leather just a little thicker than Damen's thumb, and so was thin enough to be concealed under a fully-buttoned up shirt and tie, as long as Damen was careful about it. It had understated gold accents around the circumference, including a small ring at the throat, and several links at the back that could be clasped together by a small lock. Damen didn't doubt who would hold the key. 

This type of collar was the sort of thing that wasn't meant to be taken off. Something permanent. The meaning of it was unmistakable.

Laurent had said nothing while Damen had stared, considering, at the collar. When Damen looked back over his shoulder at Laurent with a smile spreading across his face, Laurent was apparently flustered enough that he actually diverted his eyes for a moment in obvious embarrassment before he remembered himself and their respective positions.

"I didn't say you could look at me," Laurent scolded.

Right. It made complete sense that Laurent would have chosen to do this in the middle of acting out a scene so that he could at least keep up the illusion of having control over the situation. That was just like him.

Damen went along with it easily enough for once, lowering his eyes and looking back to the collar. He itched to reach for it. Instead, Damen requested, "Put it on me?"

Even if Laurent had thought there was any chance that Damen would turn this down (and he must have at least considered it as a possibility, for Damen knew that Laurent tended to overthink every tiny thing), Laurent controlled his expression well enough that there was no obvious sign that he'd maybe doubted Damen's reaction, or that he was relieved.

"I thought you knew how to ask for things better than that," Laurent said.

Damen was almost tempted to roll his eyes, because to him this was so much more important than playing out the remainder of the scene just now. But if it was important to Laurent to maintain that slight emotional distance provided by their structured roles – if that was what it took to allow him to feel comfortable doing this – then it was simple enough for Damen to oblige him for now.

"Please will you put it on me, sir?" Damen corrected himself.

"You think I'm going to bend down and get it? Present it to me properly if you really want it," Laurent instructed.

Damen reverently took up the loop of leather and swivelled on his knees so that he could offer it up to Laurent, extending it with both hands. Laurent cupped Damen's jaw tenderly in his palm, silently encouraging him to tilt his inclined head upwards to give Laurent access. Once Damen had complied, Laurent took the collar and slipped it around Damen's neck. He hesitated with his fingers at the back of Damen's neck, clearly playing over the lock.

Laurent didn't just outright ask 'are you sure?'. That wasn't their style. Instead, Laurent announced, "This won't come off easily, you know," and gave Damen a moment to protest. Since that was the _last_ thing Damen wanted to do, Damen gave the slightest of nods, almost imperceptible, and just waited, trusting Laurent to understand what he wanted. What he _needed_. After a few more moments, Damen heard the lock click into place. He shivered.

Damen had worn collars before when his Dominant-of-the-moment wanted to leash him or to fully restrain him from neck to ankles, but those collars had always been removed at the end of that single scene. They had been no different to nipple clamps or cock rings; enjoyable in their way, but certainly ephemeral, and not something that held any relevance outside the bedroom as far as Damen was concerned. This particular collar was very different. It proclaimed the existence of a particular kind of connection and possession. And although Laurent's neck might remain bare, in Damen's mind this collar still tied Laurent to Damen just as much as it did the reverse. So the snug weight of it resting against his neck felt entirely different than anything Damen had ever experienced before.

Different, but so welcome.

Damen demonstrated his feelings on the matter by nuzzling his face happily against Laurent's upper thigh without bothering to wait for permission to touch. 

Laurent sighed. "You're always so disobedient," he complained. "What am I going to do with you?" There was no heat or seriousness to it, though. How could there be when the collar that had just been secured around Damen's neck clearly announced the answer to that: what Laurent intended to do with Damen was to keep him. 

Damen managed a quick glance at Laurent's face that Laurent didn't see (or at least that Laurent was willing to pretend that he didn't notice, more likely). He saw that Laurent's expression was soft. Happy. Besotted, even, Damen would have said if it wouldn't almost definitely have resulted in Laurent frowning at him and trying to claim that Damen was only imagining things.

Laurent might never use words like 'love', but it was obvious to Damen. 

And Damen was more than happy to say it often enough for both of them anyway.


End file.
